The Italian Competition Authority finds a cartel in the market for the depuration of muds resulting from urban sewages

In the case I765, GareGestioni Fanghi in Lombardia e Piemonte, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) found five firms operating in the market for the depuration of muds resulting from urban sewage to have put in practice a cartel. The parties agreed to coordinate their conducts with regard to a number of competitive tender procedures organised by local authorities in the regions of Lombardy and Piedmont in the 2008-2013 period to select the supplier of depuration services. The bid-rigging agreement has been implemented in two ways. First, the parties sought to find a legally binding mechanism to make their coordination stronger, and namely a joint-venture or a consortium. Second, they exchanged data regarding their bidding for the tendered out contracts.
Interestingly, one of the parties submitted as defensive arguments that it did not made joint bids with the others and that it withdrew from the talks about creating a consortium. The ICA, however, discarded these arguments. It noted that in any event such firm did not made a formal dissociation from the cartel, as required to avoid competition liability. It also noted that, due to the meetings with the other cartelists, that firm was aware of their commercial policies and it could accordingly decide how to behave in tender procedures, with the ensuing lessening of competition.


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